History

History

The beginnings of Cambridge University Golf can be attributed to two graduates – Andrew Murray and George Gossett. Armed with golf clubs and a hole-cutter, they ventured to the common at Royston in 1869 and set about laying out an 18-hole golf course, cutting holes as they played. The course was quickly established and a further 17 undergraduates were enlisted as members, each paying 2s/6d in subscription fees. But Royston proved too far from Cambridge and in 1871, by which time the initial enthusiasts had all gone down, the Club folded up. Thus, 1875 marks the official foundation of the CUGC and W.T. Linskill its acknowledged founder.

A Cambridge Undergraduate Student in 1896

The first University Golf Match was played on 6th March 1878 on Wimbledon Common, courtesy of the London Scottish Club, and was decided by four singles over eighteen holes, using the holes up method of scoring. Oxford, led by Horace Hutchinson, won by the crushing margin of twenty-four holes to nil.

With 124 playings in its 135 year history, the Varsity Match is the oldest team event in golf, and also the oldest amateur competition in the sport – the Amateur Championship did not being until 1885. And although the Cricket Match (1827) and Boat Race (1829) predate it by some fifty years, the Golf Match is only six years the junior of the Varsity Rugby Match (1872).

The Oxford and Cambridge Golfing Society on 23rd March 1898. Players earning a spot in the Blues team for the Varsity Match are invited to join The Society providing the opportunity for relationships that continues beyond the end of the match.